# 309 – Jerusalem Trump & Communism

May 31, 2017

I’m having to rush this a bit – for 1 specific reason. Today – end of May – is the deadline for signing or not signing the (US) presidential waiver to move the US Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

As most of you should now have noticed, there has been such a waiver in existence for many years. It has to be signed every 6 months, and Obama last signed it at the end of November. It seems likely that Trump, whatever he may have ‘promised’, will join a long line of wimps, thereby postponing the decision for another 6 months.

THIS would have been the right time. The Palestinians are weak; the Arab world in disarray; thanks to the common enemy in Iran (and affiliates), the Sunni Arab countries appear to be softening in their attitude towards Israel. And it’s ridiculous that the World is ready to approve Palestine’s capital in Jerusalem (why? – why not Ramallah, or that new city they’re building south of Ramallah) and ignore a much more serious and bona fide demand for Israel’s capital.

50 years ago, Jerusalem was not occupied by Israel. It was liberated. After the Israeli War of Independence in 1948, Jerusalem was occupied by Jordan. That ‘wonderful and democratic country’ threw out all Jews from the Old City, and destroyed all synagogues. Do you want me to go on…?

My brother-in-law took important part in the 50th celebrations, for he was not only part of the armoured brigade involved, he was the official war artist, and produced a large number of sketches recording the events…

And how does Communism fit is to all this? I spent today at one of Israel’s many kibbutzes. This one is called Evron – perhaps 15 km. north of Haifa. They were celebrating their 80th anniversary. Aviva spent 2 years studying and working there from 1958-60.

Such visits continue to be an eye-opener, for it so clearly shows the way Israeli was built – it showed the people, their hardships, their decisions. Of course Israel had its fair share of Communists, but in this case, Communism was just the temporary, practical tool used to build the country.

The main Kibbutz movement was instigated during the early part of the 20th C. It was a strange mixture of socialism and Zionism; the understandably urgent need to build a home FOR the Jews (much better description than ‘a Jewish home’). And the means was `Communism’ – the need for all to work together, equally, to build communities of farming, industry and learning.

But don’t kid yourself; few believed that Communism wa sth along-term answer. It was a means to an end for very individually-minded free enterprisers.

The atmosphere today in Evron was fantastic: the 5-600 kibbutzniks were invaded by past-members and their families, perhaps 10 times that number. They fed them, entertained them, showed them a display of their produce, including this year’s babies.

Stephen